فصلنامه پژوهش و برنامه ریزی در آموزش عالی
سال سی و یکم شماره 1 (پیاپی 115، بهار 1404)

The purpose of the present study, was to investigate the flow of knowledge in the research and planning quarterly in higher education. In this research, 102 issues of this quarterly published in the period of 1993-2022 were reviewed. By choosing the strategy of content analysis and choosing famous criteria in this field, the quarterly magazine and its articles were checked from both structural and content aspects. In order to be able to analyze the flow of changes in the quarterly, all criteria were separated into three time periods: 1993-2002, 2003-2012, and 2013-2022. In the structural part, the movement of editors and responsible managers who were legally affiliated to the institution, as well as the evolution of topics and goals, the frameworks accepted by the quarterly magazine for publication, and the order of publishing articles were analyzed. In terms of content, 1- Demographic characteristics including: participation of universities and other institutions and centers in writing articles, scientific rank of authors, academic field and gender of specialists, group or individual writing of articles and the source of extracting articles, 2- Methodology including: research approach , data collection tools, data analysis method and strategy, the society and sample of the research, 3- The topics of interest of the authors of the articles were analyzed in relation to the topics of the quarterly magazine. Qualitative growth is observed in most of the criteria in three periods. This qualitative growth in the scientific rank of authors, more participation of women in articles, more attention to group writing, more attention to qualitative approaches and methods of combined and interpretive analysis shows itself over three decades. The focus of this quarterly magazine on planning, management and policy making is one of the distinctive features of the magazine, which has chosen its audience well. Also, the findings show that the articles of this quarterly magazine are a mirror of the social events of the higher education community; With the expansion of higher education and the emphasis on post-graduate studies, the participation of students and postgraduates in articles has increased. Considering that most of the contributors in this quarterly are humanities and social science experts, the interpretive and critical paradigm and interdisciplinary approach needs to be strengthened by the authors of the articles.

Higher education leaders play an important role in promoting ethics and sustainable development in society, so they are expected to engage in "sustainable ethical leadership". Ethical leadership and sustainable leadership are intertwined concepts that are necessary to achieve success and sustainability. The purpose of the current research was to develop and validate a scale to measure "sustainable ethical leadership" in Iran's higher education system. For this purpose, the theoretical foundations and literature of internal and external researches in the field of ethical leadership and sustainable leadership were examined with a six-step approach of systematic review of the background, and based on that, the competencies, functions and consequences of "sustainable ethical leadership" was extracted and a tool was designed. In the next stage, this tool was implemented among 334 faculty members of Shiraz University and University of Technology who were selected by stratified random sampling method. The content validity of the tool structure was measured using item analysis and first- and second-order confirmatory factor analysis, and its reliability was measured using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Validation results showed that the "Sustainable Ethical Leadership" scale had a suitable fit. In the variable of "sustainable ethical leadership", competences, functions and consequences with a factor load (0.94), (0.98) and (0.95) were significant explanations of this variable and their validity was confirmed. Other results indicated the validity and reliability of this scale. The sustainable ethical leadership scale can be a valid tool to evaluate the degree of orientation of university managers to ethical dimensions and sustainable development at the same time.

The purpose of the present study was to propose a conceptual framework for research-based education in the context of Iran’s higher education system. This study was conducted within the interpretivist paradigm using a qualitative approach and grounded theory methodology. Semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from 28 higher education experts selected purposefully through strategies such as maximum variation, snowball, and theoretical sampling. Data analysis was performed in three stages: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The findings revealed that research-based education is characterized as problem-based, problem-identifying, and problem-generating. From a systemic perspective, the inputs (students, faculty, curriculum) and outputs (learning) are identified as active agents, facilitating educators, communicative curricula, and learning in practical contexts. The formation process of this concept is fostered through the provision of structured opportunities within a framework of discourse, human interactions, and freedom of expression. This type of education is influenced by three categories of factors: educational-research, administrative-support, and moral-cultural elements, shaped by both internal and external organizational contexts. It also emerges under the influence of factors such as academic culture, adherence to educational principles, and psychological characteristics. Key strategies for its implementation include the formulation and clarification of university goals and missions, human resource organization, research-based training, and the attraction, support, and active participation of stakeholders. These strategies yield psychological, social, educational, cultural, and economic outcomes. In conclusion, higher education within Iran’s ecosystem requires policies that balance, integrate, and mutually reinforce education and research in a systemic approach. Creative, capable, and socially efficient individuals are developed within an academic culture where education and research function as synchronized wings, propelling the university forward. Achieving this coordination and alignment between education and research necessitates coherence and integration among universities, society, and governance systems.

Power has a multi-faceted, multi-level, complex and, of course, changing concept, and its semantic structure has changed from "hard" to "soft". With the trend of the international system towards a more multipolar world in the current decade (of course, with a fragile nature and with the relative superiority of the United States), soft power gained a greater share in the equations of the international system. The main goal of this research is to investigate the international position of higher education in foreign policy and its role in the soft power of countries in the present era. In this regard, considering the new theoretical foundations of soft power in foreign policy and descriptive-explanatory method, this question and multi-level and complementary objectives have been evaluated by examining the meaning of the soft power of the higher education system and its two-way relationship with public diplomacy, What is the position and importance of the higher education system (university) as national capability and capacity in foreign policy? In response to this hypothesis, it is detailed that, higher education system is a cultural, value and social manifestation of soft power and with diversification in foreign policy, internationalization of higher education with the aim of inclining public opinion in the target countries to the goals and national interests of the implementing country in the framework of public diplomacy, it puts the capacities and abilities of the country's higher education at the disposal of the foreign policy apparatus and the realization of national interests. The findings of the research show that, there is a deep connection between soft power, public diplomacy and foreign policy and actors have succeeded in diversifying in the field of foreign policy. The official and unofficial actors of soft power are different and the most common of them include the higher education system, actors in the field of culture and sports, the media and activists in the field of economy. The higher education system, as one of the agents of soft power, has a mainly socio-cultural nature and it is the manifestation of the will of nations in foreign policy and different and similar experiences of countries indicate a tight and complex competition. On the other hand, the internationalization of higher education has made its capacities and abilities available to the foreign policy apparatus and the realization of national interests which has been neglected in Iran's foreign policy.

This article, focusing on establishing and expanding autonomous university campuses as a policy tool, evaluates the privatization policies of public higher education in Iran. This study, using a qualitative, process-based research method,  analyzes the design and implementation of this policy based on the policy cycle model and policy feedback theory. The findings reveal that the policy of establishing autonomous campuses has not been as successful as expected in achieving its primary objectives, including the internationalization of higher education, expanding access, and increasing student enrollment to meet social and scientific needs. This research examines the resource, interpretive, and institutional impacts of this policy and its socio-political, financial, and executive feedback mechanisms. The resource, interpretive, and institutional impacts include promoting market logic in public universities, encouraging universities to find new financial resources, and creating contradictions in the policy-making and implementation of higher education privatization. The socio-political feedback mechanism focuses on the deviation of campuses from their primary mission, the financial feedback mechanism highlights universities' need for diverse financial resources, and the administrative feedback mechanism points to the lack of adequate oversight of these campuses. The article concludes that while the privatization of public higher education through autonomous campuses has had some positive effects, such as diversifying university financial resources, it has also led to concerns about equity and quality of education. This research suggests that future privatization policies in higher education should be carefully designed and implemented, with adequate oversight, to balance financial sustainability and the maintenance of educational standards. Furthermore, in developing privatization policies in public higher education, all social classes should be guaranteed equal access to higher education. Based on the findings, three scenarios are proposed for the future of autonomous campuses: maintaining the status quo, merging with parent universities, or shifting towards specific missions.

Digital University is an educational system that is in line with the fundamental goal of Payam Noor University, which is to provide the possibility of standard and uniform education, regardless of where students live and work, based on new information technology methods and resources. This study aims to present and validate the digital university model in Payam Noor University. The present study is an applied-developmental research in terms of its purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of data collection method. In order to achieve the goal, an exploratory mixed research design was used. The community of participants of the qualitative part includes managers and academic staff members of Payam Noor University, 13 of whom were selected by purposive sampling method. The statistical population in the quantitative part also includes managers and experts of information technology and academic staff members, specifically professors of information technology of Payam Noor universities, 126 people were selected by simple random method. The data collection tools are semi-structured interviews and researcher-made questionnaires. Thematic analysis and MAXQDA software were used to analyze the expert interviews, and the partial least squares method and Smart PLS software were used in the quantitative part. The findings of the research showed that based on this model, management factors, digital innovation and digital technology affect digital accessibility and digital ecosystem, and these two factors also affect the digital university strategy; The digital university strategy affects individual, university and global digital learning and ultimately leads to the digitization of the university. Therefore, the managers of Payam Noor universities of the country can move towards the digitization of the university system using the provided model, and as a center for cultivating human resources and the future generation of the country, it plays a central role in keeping up with digital developments. Thematic analysis and MAXQDA software were used to analyze the expert interviews, and the partial least squares method and Smart PLS software were used in the quantitative part. The findings of the research showed that based on this model, management factors, digital innovation and digital technology affect digital accessibility and digital ecosystem, and these two factors also affect the digital university strategy; The digital university strategy affects individual, university and global digital learning and ultimately leads to the digitization of the university. Therefore, the managers of Payam Noor universities of the country can move towards the digitization of the university system using the provided model, and as a center for cultivating human resources and the future generation of the country, it plays a central role in keeping up with digital developments.

Moral intelligence means the capacity and ability to understand right from wrong, having strong moral beliefs and acting on them and behaving in the right direction. The purpose of the present study is to determine the level of moral intelligence of non-academic staff of Shahid Beheshti University. The mentioned research is a research with a descriptive-analytical quantitative approach. The research community included non-academic staff of Shahid Beheshti University's education units, 87 of whom were randomly sampled and included in the study. The data in question were collected through the Lennick and kiel questionnaire and analyzed using Spss version 16 software. Based on the findings of the research, the level of moral intelligence of the non-academic staff in the education units of Shahid Beheshti University is higher than the average and at a high level from their point of view. Also, the honesty component has the highest average rating, on the other hand, the ability to forgive others' mistakes has the lowest average rating. The desired level of moral intelligence of the staff of education units in the university can lead to the effective role of the university in the moral development of students and, consequently, human resources at the community level.